USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 36
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367
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
body of the people were steadfast opposers of the unconstitu- tional claims and pretensions of Great Britain, and determined to do all in their power to preserve inviolate those rights and liberties for which they were contending.
In particular, a very large number of her citizens, in propor- tion to her population, enlisted in the war.
In the year 1775, the number of the male inhabitants of Woburn who were taxed in the Province or State tax for that year, was three hundred and eleven. This number was after- wards considerably enlarged each year of the war's continuance, so that at its close, in 1783, the average number of the male inhabitants of Woburn who had been annually taxed in the ordinary State tax, while the war was going on, was three hun- dred and thirty-two. But from various authentic documents, especially from numerous town orders for the payment of her soldiers, and their receipts for the same, still preserved in the archives of Woburn, it appears, that no fewer than three hun- dred and seventy-six distinct individuals, from among her own male population, enlisted in the service of their country in this contest, besides forty-six persons from abroad, who were employed and paid by the town for the same purpose. For a list of those persons, see Appendix, No. XII.
At the beginning of the war, men were procured to serve in it, by drafting in equal proportions from the three military com- panies then belonging to the town. Afterwards, enlistments were obtained by a committee appointed by the town, " to hire men into the War." In this way, the three years' inen were enlisted in the Continental army from Woburn in 1777, and the six months' men, in 1780. And subsequently the method of classing was resorted to for this purpose. It seems that, agree- ably to Resolves of the General Court, in Feb. 1781, and March 1782, the assessors of every deficient town were authorized to distribute all its taxable inhabitants (where the people had not
internal enemies thereof.'" The meeting was then adjourned to July 7th, when after long debate, it was again adjourned to the last Monday in August, and then again to September 15, when the whole design was abandoned, and the meeting dissolved. - Town Records, Vol. I.Y., p. 377.
368
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
already classed themselves) into as many classes as the quota of men required of it amounted to, to assess where necessary, the several members of each class their just proportion of the expense of procuring its man ; and, if any one proved delinquent in paying his assessment, to put the amount into the hands of a collector, to collect and pay it over to the treasurer of the town. Several documents, illustrative of this new, unusual mode of obtaining men to serve in war, are still extant in Woburn ; from which, as matters of curiosity, the following are selected.
" Memorandum of a Class made out by James Fowle jun', and others, in order to hire Philip Alexander as a Soldier for three years, to fill up the Continental Army, agreeably to Recommenda- tion of the General Court.
Ileads. Names.
Ileads.
Names.
£7.12.5
1 James Fowle jun. £2 :14.0.
1 Jolın Tay
0:19.7
1 John Bruce 5.0
1 Col. Loammi Baldwin
2 :2 :4
1 John Richardson
13.8
1 Mr Jacob Coggin
10:8
1 Benj". Fowle
1:10.8
1 James Tottingham
6.0
1 David Wyman
9.4
2 Daniel Reed
2:2:0
1
Aaron Tay
1:3:1
Capt. Nath1. Brooks
1 :17 :4
1 John Fox
9.0
1 Philip Alexander
5.0
1. James Wyman
7.8
15:15 :4
" 7 :12 :5
Pay to Mr Paul Wyman 4 :6
"£1510:10 :
" Double four times"
" Woburn June 7th. 1781.
" SAMUEL BLODGET ? Assessors. " ZEBh. WYMAN
" To Mr James Fowle & Class." 13
" We the Subseribers [have] assessed the delinquent members belonging to the Class No. 2 (Capt. Nathaniel Brooks head of said Class) the sum of £22 :5 :7 : and committed the same to Mr Paul Wyman, one of the Collectors of Woburn, to collect and pay to the Treasurer of Woburn, according to the Resolve of the Great and General Court, dated March ye 8th. 1782.
" SAMUEL THOMPSON
Assessors. 13
" JEDUTHUN RICHARDSON
" Woburn April 26. 1782."
13 Class Papers on file.
.
.
Silver Tax.
A
369
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Of the large number above designated of the citizens of Wo- burn, engaged in the war, all did not serve their country in one way only; but a considerable proportion of them, at different periods of the contest, in more ways than one. In the years 1775, 1776, there were various military services, or "tours of duty," as they were termed, to employ her men, as enlisting for eight months, and afterwards, for one year, in the Continental Army ; guarding at the lines of Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, and Roxbury ; serving in detachments sent into the States of New York and New Jersey ; and joining the expeditions to Ticonde- roga and Canada. In one or more of these ways, during the two years named above, one hundred and eighty citizens of the town enlisted in the war, as appears from orders on the Treasurer still extant, which were given in their favor, and are receipted by them ; and which, being dated, for the most part, carly in 1777, the year next following, are expressly stated to be in payment of services performed "in the present War," or " before Jan- uary 1777."
Subsequently to 1776, (as appears from additional orders on file for the payment of soldiers, and from other authentic or reli- able documents, still preserved,) numerous individuals. inhabitants of Woburn, and persons who were strangers in the place, were enlisted in the war, for various other services, such as the exigen- cies of the times required.
But Woburn manifested her zeal in sustaining the War for Independence, not only by furnishing men to contend in the struggle, but also by liberal grants of money for the encourage- ment of those men, and large supplies, according to their ability, of food and clothing for their support.
At a town meeting, held December 13, 1776, and called " in observance of the Resolves of the Continental Congress now sitting at Philadelphia," it was voted to raise £1,500 lawful money, " to defray the charges that had or may arise, relative to the raising or hiring men in this town for the defence of these American Colonies, relating to the unhappy dispute between them and Great Britain."
"Voted, to choose a Committee of nine men 'to enquire and
370
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
see what each and every one has paid14 and to ascertain the sum total of said charges: and to report to the town upon the adjournment, what each turn or tour of duty shall be set at, for their acceptance.' etc. etc.
" Also Voted, that the Town will proportion the necessary charges that have arisen over and above those Encouragements that have been given by the Continent or this State since April y.e 19th. 1775, and all Charges [that.] shall arise, during these unhappy disputes with Great Britain, relating to hiring troops for our defence; and to levy the same as all other taxes are levied." 15
At the adjournment of this meeting, December 27, 1776, the committee of nine, then appointed, reported as follows :
" To each and every Person, which is to be paid out of the Town Treasury, as follows, Viz.
" For the first eight Months in the year 1775, per man
£4: 0:0.
"For the two Months Service in the beginning of 1776. 1:0:0
" For twelve Months in the Continental Army S: 0:0.
" For five Months at Ticonderoga 12: 0:0.
" For five Months at or near Boston lines. 0:12:0.
" For two Months at New York 6: 0:0.
" For the three Months at New York [and New Jersey ?] 12 : 0:0."15
This Report was read and accepted. And now to defray the expenses hitherto incurred by Woburn in the war, and especially to pay her soldiers the bounties which she had engaged to give them, over and above the encouragements that had been given them by this State or the country to expect, the .£1,500 lawful money, which it had been voted to raise for these purposes, was
14 In this expression (has paid) and others which occur in the lists of two of the military companies in Woburn (Documents, Vol. I., II.,) It seems to be implied that several, both of the soldiers and other citizens, advanced money to pay immediate expenses of the war, and had it deducted from their proportion of the tax of £1,500, soon after assessed.
18 Town Records, Vol. IX., p. 331.
371
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
assessed February 18, 1777. And from its proceeds, apparently, there was paid
" To the 22 men who engaged in the two months service at the beginning of 1776
£23:13:0
" To those who enlisted for a year in the Continental Army
247:13 :4
" To the men who marched June 24th, 1776 [to Ticonderoga] under Capt. Samuel Tay
607:13 :8.
"To 20 men, who served 2 months in 1776 under Capt. Samuel Belknap, in New York-
120: 0:0.
" To 21 men, who served three months under the same commander in New York, or New Jersey
303 : 2:7."
Amounting in all to . £1302 :2 : 7 16
The residue of the £1,500 lawful money, (equivalent to £1,562 depreciated currency,17, voted, December 13, 1776, to be raised by tax for the payment of military expenses, was probably paid in the bounties agreed upon to give the men who enlisted in 1775 for eight months, in the Continental army, and to those who served five months at one time, in 1776, at the Boston lines.
Subsequently to 1776, Woburn paid during the war, in boun- ties to her soldiers, the nominal sum of £48,944 0s. 8d. This sounds like an enormous amount of money to be appropriated by a single town to this purpose, at that day. But here it is to be observed that while, previously to the commencement of 1777
16 War Document, XII.
17 War Document, XVIII., "the whole amount of the expenses [bounties] arising by the War, in Capt. Samuel Belknap's Company, from the beginning of the present War up to the first of January 1777
£533: 2: 84
" Amount of do in Capt. Jesse Wyman's Company
461: 1:3.
"Amount of ditto in Capt. Joshua Walker's Company
567:18:11}
·· Amount 1562 :2 :11."
372
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
bounties were equivalent in value, or nearly so, to their nominal, amount in lawful money, they were paid from the beginning of that year in depreciated bills of credit; and their depreciation increased with surprising rapidity towards the close of the war. On this head, Lemuel Shattuck, Esq., remarks, in his History of Concord, " The value of money was regulated monthly.".
" January 1st. 1777, $100 in silver was worth $105 currency; in 1778 [January 1st?] $328; in 1779, $742; in 1780, $2,934; and in February 1781, $7,500."18 At this rate of depreciation, it is obvious that the nominal bounties paid by Woburn, after 1776, to the soldiers in her employ, would quickly become greatly diminished in value. To ascertain their real worth in lawful money, let $100 in silver be accounted as equivalent to $105 currency through the whole year 1777, as it was, according to Mr. Shattuck, on the first day of January of that year; let the same sum in silver be estimated equal, agreeably to his statements, to $328 paper, in 1778; to $742, in 1779 ; to $2,934, in 1780; 19 and to $7,500 paper in February 1781, which was as soon, almost without exception, as the bounties due to the six months' men, hired in June 1780, were paid them; and the nominal amount of the bounties paid by Woburn after 1776, would at once be reduced from £48,944 8s. to £5,283 4s. in lawful money. To this sum add the £1,500, paid before 1777, and the sum total of the bounties paid by Woburn in the war of the Revolution will be £6,783 4s., lawful money.
The annexed schedule exhibits the numbers of the men employed by Woburn, in distinct companies, for various military services after 1776; the times and places when and where they served ; the names of their respective commanders ; the kind of service in which they were severally engaged ; the nominal bounties they received for those services; and the annual amount, nearly, of those bounties in lawful money ; so far as these several particu- lars can now be ascertained.
In History of Concord, p. 123.
19 Zebadinh Wyman, Esq., Treasurer of Woburn In 1780, casually remarks on a loose paper left behind him, "1400 Paper Dollars, In the year 1750, Augt 4th. In 20:0:0 (or $20] in apecie." In this proportion, $100 In allver would be equal to 87,000 paper at that the; and between August 4, and December 31, 1750, there would be ample room for $7,000 to sink five hundred dollars.
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
373
SCHEDULE.
Nominal Value in bounties lawful money
£8:8 80
72:0 20
Twenty nine men, about 4 months, under Capt. Abraham Foster [of Wilmington ?] at the Westward, [against Burgoyne]
491 :8 21
Sixty four men in the "Fifteen Battalions " re- quired of Massachusetts for the Continental Army, enlisted for three years, or during the War.
1558 :0 22
Twenty men, 2 months from Septr 1st. at Cam- bridge, under Lieut. Joseph Johnson, “ guarding Stores."
154 :8 23
.
283 :14 º4
312:00 25 £2742 :00
1778 : $100=$328. Twenty men, 3 months at Bunker Hill, under Capt. Jesse Wyman, by Order of Court, Feb. 7. 1778.
216 :10 6
Eight men, 3 months from April 2d. under Lieut. Nathan Dix, guarding prisoners at or near Cam- bridge.
88 :8 27
129:00 23
Twenty seven men, by Resolve of Court June 25 [23d ?] 1778, 15 days at the Lines, " to guard prison- ers."
67:10 %
Eight men, by Order of Brigadier, June 26th to serve 5 months at the Lines, " to guard prisoners of Convention." 29
Twelve men, hired April 20th. to join the Conti-
20 Documents, X., XVIII.
11 Documents, XVIII. This document mentions twenty-four men only. But there are twenty-nine orders on file for paying twenty-nine distinct individuals, as engaged in the ex- pedition under Capt. Foster.
22 Documents, X., XVIII. 13 Documents, V., VIII., X., XVIII.
" Documents, VI., VIII., X., XVIII.
15 Documents, XII.
2 Documents, VIII., X., XVI , XVIII. 27 Documents, VII., VIII., X., XVIII.
18 Documents, XV. " The captured army of Burgoyne. The treaty of capitulation,. by which it was surrendered to Gates, was called a "Convention."
32
108:00 29
1777 : $100=$103. Fourteen men, 3 months from Jany Ist., in a " tour of duty" at Boston, at 12 / each Twelve men, 2 months, under Capt. Jesse Wyman, at Rhode Island
Twenty five men, 5 months from Novr Ist. under Capt. Cadwallader Ford of Wilmington, " guarding . prisoners " at Cambridge.
Twenty six men, hired Decr 22d. to do military duty, for a bounty of £12.00 each; but service and commander not named.
Four men, under Capt. Benjan Edgell, in Rhode Island, till Jany 1. 1779, by Order of Court June 10. 1778.
374
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Nominal Value In bounties lawful money 1190:00 30
mental Army at Fishkill for 9 months : bounty paid.
Eight men hired to do duty at the North River, as Militia, for eight months : bounty
815:00 30
Six weeks men (number not stated) to serve in Rhode Island; by Order of Council July 1778.
335 :14 31
339 :8 31
1003:00
1779 : $100=$742. Levies of fifty men in all made in January, April, June and October 1779, and bounty money paid them, amounting to £7076:00; but to what place these men were ordered, and for what service is not stated 32
7976:00 1074 :18
1780. Twenty seven men, to serve 3 months in Rhode Island, under Capt. William Green of Reading. Their wages appear to have been paid them by the town, which was then reimbursed by the State. No bounty mentioned.33
Twenty nine men were hired to serve in the Con- tinental Army six months, for a bounty of £1200:00 each, paper money.
34800 :00 34
464:00
Amount of Bounties after 1776.
£48945:08
£5283:18
1781 : $100=$7500. But it was not only men for the army, and bounty money to encourage them to enlist, that was required of Woburn. In the course of the War, in common with all the other towns in the State, this town was called upon to furnish her due proportion of meat for the sustenance of the soldiers, and of raiment for their wear, and of horses for cavalry or draught. And from numerous Docu- ments, originally kept in the town treasurer's ofllce, and still extant, there can be no doubt that the town fully answered all the demands made on her for these ends.
30 Documents, X., XVIII.
31 Documents, XII., XV.
3 Documents, XII.
33 Documents, I.X.
34 Document, XII., and orders on file for the payment of the men. £12 bounty per man appears to be the sum originally agreed upon. But In consequence of the continued depreciation of the paper currency, orders were eventually given many of the soldiers for their bounty, amounting to £1,650 and £1,800 currency. And yet, in paying two such orders In 1782, the treasurer allowed in lawful money only £12 23. 8d. for £1,800, and only £12 for £1,650 currency, Including In both Instances, " expenses of travel home."
Men (number not given) engaged Septr 6th. to serve in Rhode Island, and afterwards ordered to Boston, under Lieut. Joseph Winn, for 3} mouths, ending Jany Ist. 1779.
375
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Nominal or
Depreciated,
J.awful Money.
1780 : $100=$2934.
By two Resolves of the State Legislature, passed in September and December 1780, Woburn was re- quired to supply the Continental Army with 24078 pounds of beef; or if the town preferred, to furnish the worth of that quantity of provision in money. In these two instances, agents employed by the town raised a large proportion of the beef required; and two Beef Taxes were assessed in October and De- cember of that year, amounting to £54927 currency, to pay for the whole.
£54927:00 £1872:01:00
1781 : $100=$7500. From the following Receipt on file, the Legislature appears to have passed a third Resolve on this subject Jany 4. 1781. " Woburn Feb. 20. 1781. Received of the town of Woburn, by the hand of Mr Zebadiah Wyman, treasurer for said town, the sum of five thousand pounds, in lieu of three thousand five hundred and three pounds & two thirds of a pound of beef, in part of said town's proportion of beef, agreeable to a Resolve of the General Court Jany 4. 1781; for which I have given duplicate Receipts. Reuben Kimball, Agent."
A fourth Resolve was passed by the Court June 22d. 1781, by which 9938 lbs. of beef was appor- tioned on Woburn for the supply of the Army. In regard to this requisition, the town at a meeting July 16. 1781 chose a committee of five, to purchase the proportion of beef now called for, at the town's expense. Several citizens advanced specie for the immediate purchase of the beef demanded; agents procured the meat asked for; and were eventually. reimbursed by Orders on the town treasurer. If the charge per 100 Ibs for the 9938 lbs was equal to that charged for a portion of that quantity mentioned in the annexed Order,33 viz. 33/ 9d lawful money per 100 lbs, the whole cost was £167 :14 lawful money, equal to £12325 and upwards of depreciated cur- rency that year.
Total expense of the town for beef
5000:00 66 :13:4
12525:00
167 :14:0
£72452:00
£2106:8:4
33 " To the Treasurer of the Town of Woburn : Sir, please to pay Col. Loammi Baldwin eight pounds in specie, in part for three thousand pounds of beef, he supplied the Town of Woburn for the use of the army, at 33/ 9 per hundred, in 1781. Woburn Feb. 11. 1782.
Zebh Wyman Joseph Johnson &c S Selectmen of Woburn."
376
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Again, Woburn was repeatedly called upon to furnish its due proportion of clothing for the army. A Resolve was passed by the State Legislature, March 13, 1778, requiring cach town in the State to provide for the army as many shirts, pairs of shoes and pairs of stockings, as would be equal to one-seventh part of all its male inhabitants. These articles when collected in any town were to be delivered by its Selectmen or committee to the agent appointed for the county in which that town was situated. The agent, in his turn, was to provide wagons or other suitable carriages, at the public expense, for the conveyance of those articles to the State Commissary in the northern or in the southern department of the army, agreeably to directions of the resolve. And the commissioners were required to deliver without delay, in their respective departments, out of the articles of clothing thus put into their hands, by the several towns, one shirt, one pair of shoes and one pair of stockings, as " a present from the people of this State," to cach non-commissioned offi- cer, and to each private soldier, raised in this State, and enlisted in the service for three years, or during the war, towards fill- ing up the State's quota of the continental army.36 This Re- solve was printed, and a copy was sent to each town, and one to each agent in the State. And Woburn, upon receiving a copy, showed no backwardness to comply with its requisitions. At town meeting, March 31st, soon after the Resolve was passed, it was voted to draw money out of the treasury, to buy stock- ings. shoes and shirts with, for Woburn's part of the continen- tal army. And numerous orders on the town treasurer, still preserved on file, do show that in compliance with this Resolve of the Legislature, large supplies of every description of cloth- ing mentioned in it, at a cost of above .£650, were brought in to the Selectmen, to be transported under their care, to the state storehouse in Concord, kept by James Barrett, Esq., agent for
86 " The Continental Journal, and Weekly Advertiser," Boston, March 19, 1778.
377
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the county of Middlesex. See copies of a few of these orders in the notes.37
Moreover, a Resolve was passed by the State Legislature, June 22, 1781, " for collecting clothes for this Commonwealth's quota of the Continental army," etc., etc.38 By this Resolve, there was apportioned upon the whole county of Middlesex nine hundred and ninety-three shirts, and as many pairs of stockings, and of shoes, and four hundred and ninety-six blankets; and of these articles, Woburn was required to supply forty-two shirts, forty-two pairs of stockings, forty-two pairs of shoes, and twenty-one blankets ; the same apportionment as was set upon the adjoining town of Reading. To make sure of, or to facilitate Woburn's compliance with this requisition, a meeting, to be held August 13, 1781, was
37 " To the Town Treasurer.
"Sir: Please pay Dea. David Blanchard forty one pounds and eight pence in full for Shirts and Hose, and making Shirts, and for collecting and carrying the store to Concord for the Continental Soldiers; and this shall be your Discharge for the same.
" £41 :0 :8.
" Woburn Septr 10. 1778.
" William Tay " Samuel Thompson 1 Selectmen."
" Jedn Richardson
" Jona. Tidd
" Sir Please to pay to Saml Leathe twenty seven pounds in full for fifteen pair Shoes he has supplied the Town with for the use of the Contl- nental Soldiers.
" Woburu, May 4th. 1778.
" To Jona. Lawrence, Treasurer.
" William Tay
" Sam' Thompson
" Benjan Edgell
" Jedn Richardson
a-
" To the Town Treasurer.
" Sir: Please to pay Col. Loammi Baldwin eighty seven pounds, six shillings & eight peuce in full for Shirts he delivered to the Selectmen to turn into the State Store &c &c &c
" Woburn 11th Feby 1780. [Signed] - Selectmen."
" To the Town Treasurer.
" Sir, Please to pay Zechariah Richardson twenty pounds for Hose he delivered to the Selectmeu, to turn into the State Store; and this shall be &c &c &c " William Tay
" Woburu 11th. February 1780. " Saml Thompson
" Benjn Edgell
Selectmen."
18 Vol. of Resolves at the State House; No. LXIV. 32*
1
378
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
notified by the Selectmen, of such inhabitants as were disposed to give their assistance towards it. At that meeting, sundry in- dividuals agreed to secure the complement of clothing for the soldiers that was demanded of this town; and there can be no question that their agreement was duly and faithfully fulfilled. Many individuals, both male and female, were now set on work, procuring eloth and making it up into shirts, knitting stockings, making shoes, and providing blankets; and upon finishing their work, they severally presented their bills, and obtained orders for payment out of the treasury of the town, which, in return, agreeably to provisions of the Resolve of Court above re- ferred to, was reimbursed for its expense upon the articles of raiment supplied by it, out of the treasury of the State. Orders yet extant, obtained for articles of clothing for the army, fur- nished by inhabitants of Woburn under this Resolve of Court, amount to about £100. Copies of a few of these Orders are given in the notes.39
39 "Sir, Please to pay Mr Saml Leathe one pound ten shillings two pence two farthings in part for fifteen pairs Shoes he supplied the Select- men with in December 1781. Woburn Jany 28. 1782.
" To Mr Zebh Wyman " Loammi Baldwin
" Treasurer for sd Town.
" Paul Wyman
" Zebh Wyman
Selectmen of Woburn."
" Sir, Please to pay Mr Saml Leathe five pounds, nineteen shillings & nine pence two farthings in full for fifteen pairs of Shoes, at 10/ a l'air, he supplied the Selectmen with in Decembr 1781; he having received an Order for the other part. Woburn Jany 28th. 1782.
" To Mr Zebadiah Wyman
" Loammi Baldwin
" Treasurer for sd Town." " Paul Wyman
" Zebh Wyman
Selectmen of Woburn."
" Sir : Please to pay Mr Jacob Caldwell five Pounds two Shillings In full for four Blankets he supplied the Selectmen of Woburn for ye use of y. Army In 1781, nt 23/ 6. Woburn Feb. 18. 1782
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